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All statements about curiosity

74 statements about curiosity in 50 videos, by upload date.

Back to curiosity.

2011

  • 2011-07-11 · Hank Talks to NASA About the Space Shuttle — Hank struggles to explain his excitement: humans, created by and built for Earth, are just poking their noses out of the pond, drawn out by an instinct for awesome. — 00:02:55
  • 2011-07-11 · Hank Talks to NASA About the Space Shuttle — Hank says the science needed is massive, but we undertake it because, though built for Earth, we were also built to explore. — 00:03:24
  • 2011-08-03 · I Love My Brother — Hank argues love is the reason individuals and our civilization exist, and the only reason humans can do marvelous, magnificent things. — 00:01:56
  • 2011-12-02 · F#*%? An Explanation of Curse Words — Hank: Calling them 'curse' words admits they are magic; Hank says words are magic, some stronger than others, and language is the tool that created humanity. — 00:02:20

2012

  • 2012-08-07 · An Open Letter to Students Returning to School — John answers students' complaints: the Curiosity landing is more moving if you understand its physics, math and history; all communication and consciousness are symbolic; the body must learn movement. — 00:01:59
  • 2012-08-07 · An Open Letter to Students Returning to School — John concedes teachers may be stupid, as are students and he himself, and says the pleasure of being human is being stupid but learning to be less stupid together. — 00:02:22
  • 2012-08-21 · Is College Worth It? — John credits that partly to the job opportunities education gave him, but mostly to the perspective and context it gave him. — 00:03:22
  • 2012-08-21 · Is College Worth It? — John: Whether one studies electrical engineering or poetry, John says college is finally not about maximizing income but about becoming a better, more informed observer of the universe, which for him leads to a more fulfilling life. — 00:03:28
  • 2012-12-07 · Thoughts from Dead Animals — Hank says the museum largely exists to satisfy the wonderful, insatiable human curiosity. — 00:03:02

2013

2014

  • 2014-02-07 · Kill All The Humans — Hank rejects the view that intelligence is just one valued trait among others (cheetahs fastest, blue whales biggest, barnacles longest penises), believing people know humans are special. (hedged) — 00:01:16
  • 2014-02-07 · Kill All The Humans — Hank says the scale of human creation, from tiny ideas to the Burj Khalifa, cultures, atomic theory, Bridget Jones's Diary, Star Trek and honky-tonk music, is extremely valuable and unique. — 00:01:31
  • 2014-05-20 · Deserving — John's favourite thing about humans is that we can work together to improve each other's chances of healthy, productive lives, from cancer research to the Project for Awesome to kindness to a stranger; for him it is the only real path to gratitude. — 00:02:55

2015

  • 2015-03-27 · Announcing NerdCon: Stories — Hank says he has decided that what sets humans apart, making possible everything from air conditioning to nuclear war, is one word: stories. (hedged) — 00:01:23
  • 2015-05-29 · 15 of My Favorite Feelings — Hank: Favorite feelings: learning things that help him understand the world better, and helping other people do the same. — 00:02:40
  • 2015-06-09 · What Does It Mean to Be Human? — John rejects story-sharing and literacy as what makes us human: people with some intellectual disabilities or who cannot read are still people, and such definitions often exclude the poorest, sickest and most oppressed. — 00:01:16
  • 2015-06-09 · What Does It Mean to Be Human? — John believes people confer personhood on each other through empathy, compassion and trust. — 00:02:32

2016

  • 2016-11-04 · Stress and Joy — Sabrina Cruz: Sabrina allows the smile may have been a coping mechanism, but likes to think it was because she is enamored with knowing there is so much more to know. (hedged) — 00:02:12

2017

2018

2019

  • 2019-03-05 · Way, Way Down the Rabbit Hole — John says one of the great pleasures of research for him is being consumed by it; he loves the feeling of being lost in a world of research. — 00:00:29
  • 2019-11-12 · still learning — John says this is why he still likes learning, even at his jokingly "extremely advanced age": new learning can reshape old learning, and learning is a way of seeing connection. — 00:03:24
  • 2019-11-15 · Are audiobooks worse? — Hank says being told a story is the oldest thing there is and, with maybe music, he thinks it is what made us human. — 00:00:30

2020

  • 2020-03-03 · Consciously Experiencing Human Dignity — John tells the viewer they are the only part of the known universe that knows it is in a universe. — 00:02:55
  • 2020-03-17 · together. — John says togetherness is the superpower of our species: humans are smart as animals go, but collective knowledge is what made us so successful. — 00:00:00
  • 2020-07-24 · Could I Spare some Change for Gas? — Hank: To lift his head in dark days, Hank makes things with people he loves, looks at birds and follows his curiosity: finding things out is one of the few joys independent of the world. — 00:02:47
  • 2020-08-11 · never get bored — John: Making the list, John realises documentaries, reading in community and practicing the Rubik's Cube are all ways of learning and listening, where he now finds meaning and comfort. — 00:03:33
  • 2020-09-04 · Go Play! — Hank says the Pythagorean theorem is useful to people, though not to him, but that is not why it is interesting: it is interesting because it is interesting. — 00:02:03
  • 2020-10-12 · What Matters — Hank's wisdom: these things are not fixed; they can and should change, which should make you feel human, not less worthwhile, since adaptability is the most human trait. — 00:03:17

2021

  • 2021-10-05 · Why the Heck am I on TikTok??? — Hank: Reason five: Hank loves seeing people get curious about their world; TikTok reaches people he otherwise can't, and he loves being there when they first meet the universe's weirder ways. — 00:02:16
  • 2021-10-29 · The Earth is an Alien Planet — Hank says these unknowns are knowable, and though it makes no philosophical sense, making them known, about avocados and megafauna or giant crystal caves, seems a very good use of time. — 00:03:37
  • 2021-12-24 · 29 Days of Astronomical Terror — Hank does not know the point of being human but says curiosity is close to its root: beyond wanting a better world, we want to know and to learn. — 00:03:24

2022

  • 2022-01-21 · How to Be Hopeful About Doomsday — recommendation: Hank: Instead of getting mad, get curious: start with someone who deeply discusses a big problem, like the Prison Policy Initiative on incarceration, David Roberts' Volts on climate, or Fair Fight and Stacey Abrams on voting rights. — 00:02:53
  • 2022-04-08 · Hank and John Discover Chippy Butties — both: Hank says learning after school is about being curious and knowing how to chase the question, best done by reading nonfiction; John adds it takes the time, space and skillset to pursue that curiosity. — 00:01:33
  • 2022-07-19 · Why Do Things Exist? — John: We don't need to know why zinc exists for Hot Wheels to be fun or to survive, but we still want to know; John thinks this urge to know is kind of the human superpower. — 00:00:35
  • 2022-11-29 · The Weight of Life — John says humans differ from other life because writing, video and other communication technologies let them share knowledge across space and time. — 00:01:56

2023

  • 2023-01-31 · I'm Going Back to College? — John explores these questions in his free time for fun, which would have been hard to explain to his 19-year-old self. — 00:01:27
  • 2023-05-09 · on hope — John says it is valuable to learn about leaves and to study the stars, even though that knowledge won't last forever, because nothing does. — 00:00:55
  • 2023-10-13 · Cancer Made me Do It. — Hank says humans are unique in laughing and crying: other animals do neither, and humans have specific physiological reactions for both. — 00:04:08

2024

2025

  • 2025-06-06 · The Secret Inside my MIT Commencement Speech — Hank: Besides luck, Hank attributes his success to never believing there is a better use of his time than learning something new; a day he learns something is a good day. — 00:11:58
  • 2025-06-06 · The Secret Inside my MIT Commencement Speech — Hank says curiosity expands not only the tools you have but your understanding of the problem space, and opportunity lies where tools and problems overlap. — 00:12:22
  • 2025-06-06 · The Secret Inside my MIT Commencement Speech — Hank says curiosity is not out of your control: you decide how to orient it, and that orientation will shape your life and may be the most important factor in your career. — 00:14:06
  • 2025-06-06 · The Secret Inside my MIT Commencement Speech — ask: Hank asks the graduates to stay curious about the world's diverse problem space, including the everyday solvable problems of normal people that these forces ignore. — 00:15:57
  • 2025-06-20 · 'Influencer' Must Die. — Hank says most people who learn to make videos, like most who learn guitar, do not go professional, but learning still feels good and much is earned along the way. — 00:03:01
  • 2025-11-21 · I Wasn't Always Like This!! — Hank says he was not always like this: he was a nerd who liked having learned things, but years of making videos and podcasts trained his curiosity like a muscle and changed how his brain notices oddities. — 00:00:00
  • 2025-11-21 · I Wasn't Always Like This!! — Hank repeats that he thinks curiosity is one of the top two human emotions. — 00:00:00
  • 2025-11-21 · I Wasn't Always Like This!! — Hank wants others to fall down the same hill of curiosity, believing their lives will be better as his is, because being interested is like the opposite of depression. — 00:01:14
  • 2025-11-21 · I Wasn't Always Like This!! — Hank says curiosity makes everything feel more alive, uncertainty and problems less scary, and other people and himself more interesting. — 00:03:10
  • 2025-11-21 · I Wasn't Always Like This!! — Hank says the best way to help Complexly and the world is to indulge curiosity and not let algorithms, which serve fear, anxiety and outrage to keep us engaged, shape our choices. — 00:05:43
  • 2025-12-02 · The Meaning of Life with Hank and John — Hank cites a saying that the opposite of depression is not happiness but being interested, so cultivating interest and curiosity is good enough for him. — 00:05:27

2026